Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales

Y Fan (SO 162 587)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled Williams.

Y Fan (SO 162 587)

The criteria for the list that this name change applies to are:

Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales.  Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, the list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and is published on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

The hill is adjoined to the Elfael group of hills, which are situated in the eastern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned with the A44 road to its north and the A481 road to its south, and has the small community of Llandegle towards the north-west and Maesyfed (New Radnor) towards the east north-east.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 400m P30 list published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Van Hill, which is a prominent name that appears beside the summit of this hill on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps.  This is also the name the hill was listed by in the 1^st edition of the Y Pedwarau published by Europeaklist in May 2013.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

When the original Welsh 400m P30 list was published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website I paid little regard to the use of language, name placement on the map, or the meaning of names and to what feature the name was appropriately applied to.  Therefore, I prioritised names for listing purposes that are now considered inappropriate or where another name is viewed as being more appropriate.   

The intricacies of language and prioritising one in favour of another for listing a hill is fraught with complication, with originating Cymraeg names being anglicised and also originating English names being cymricised, examples such as these are more common in border country and especially so for anglicised forms.  There is no steadfast rule that fits all, but as a standard a name that has its origins in the Welsh language should be prioritised in favour of a contemporary anglicised or English version of the name, and ideally for this to be substantiated by either historic documentation and / or contemporary usage.  Likewise, if a name exists where an element of it is in English and if this name applies to a hill that is situated in a Welsh speaking part of Wales it is standard practice to use a full Welsh term for the name.  It is also standard practice to use a Welsh name for a hill if another name exists that has originated in a different language.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales is Y Fan, with the Welsh originating name for this hill prioritised over the anglicised version, which for listing purposes is standard practice.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Elfael

Name:  Y Fan

Previously Listed Name:  The Van

OS 1:50,000 map:  148

Summit Height:  465.0m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 16261 58766 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  389.2m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 16320 59189 (LIDAR)

Drop:  75.8m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (December 2019)